Street-car



(No Model.)

J. E. POSTER.

STREET OAR.

No. 486,034. Patehted' Nov. 8, 1892.

W/TNESSES lNVE/VTOH K1 ii 36 4%.

A TTOH/VEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. FOSTER, OF MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS.

STREET-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,034, dated November 8, 1892.

Application filed October 24. 1891. Serial No. 4Q9,6'70. (No model.)

To (ZZZ wit/012v. it may concern.-

Beitknown that I, JOHN E. FOSTER, of Monmouth, in the county of Warren and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Street-Car, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the annexed drawings, forming a part thereof, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of my improved street-car. Fig. 2 is a plan View, partly in section; and Fig. 3 is an end elevation, partly in section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

The object of my invention is to construct a street-car arranged to permit passengers to enter and leave the car without danger of being injured.

The invention consists in the particular construction and arrangement of parts as hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

The car-body A is mounted on a truck in the usual manner, and to the lower corners of the body are hinged the side-boards B, which cover the axle-boxes and the upper portions of the wheels a. The ends of the car are provided with doors b b, hinged to a central post, and the platforms 0, at the front and rear of the car, are made semicircular and located a short distance below the floor of the car, so that they are supported an easy stepping distance from the pavement. The car-floor is extended through the swinging doors, forming a step c, at either end of which is attached a handrail d, which is bent at right angles and fastened to the end of the car. The door 5 is hinged so that it will swing inwardly, while the door 5 is made to swing outwardly, thus compelling the passengers to go in at the inwardly-swinging door and out at the outwardly-swinging door.

The vestibule is provided with two doorways e, which are closed by sliding doors D, the said doorways being located about fortyfive degrees from the end of the car. With a vestibule of this character a passenger steps from the pavement into the vestibule and is safe, no matter how suddenly the car may be stopped or started. It is designed to have the passengers enter by the right-hand door and emerge by the left-hand door of the rear vestibule, and this construction permits of the loading and unloading of passengers in a few seconds of time and without any crowding.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with a car provided at its end with two doors hinged at their inner edges, one door being hinged to swing inward and the other outward, of a vestibule having its floor below the floor of the car and provided with two doors arranged one on each side of the center of the vestibule and spaced from the end of the car, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the car A, of a vestibule provided with the semicircular floor O, dropped below the level of the car floor, a step 0, arranged above the floor C, and sliding doors D, arranged at about forty-five degrees from the end of the car, substantially as specified.

3. An improved car having its floor extending beyond the end and provided with two doors hinged to a central post, one door swinging inward and the other outward,and a semicircular vestibule having its floor below the level of the car-floor and provided with two sliding doors, one on each side of the center of the vestibule and spaced from the end of the car, substantially as herein shown and described.

JOHN E. FOSTER.

Witnesses:

W. W. WHITENACK, \V. F. T. HANNA. 

